Nikki Sparks

I have been in my field for three and a half years, and I currently serve as the Associate Director of Parking at the University of North Texas, a position I have held for 15 months. My background is in retail management and people management, and when I decided to go back to school, I took a position with the university in parking as a customer service supervisor because it fell in line with what I had already known. I discovered that parking is a very interesting industry with not a lot of notoriety or public engagement around it, as important as it is. Every day is like a new puzzle, and my favorite part about it is getting to help people understand the nuances of how parking is funded in public universities, and how we can help them make the best choice to save them money and get them where they need to go in the most reasonable fashion. I also love the psychology behind parking because nobody really thinks about it, but making sure it is situated correctly, that all the ADA compliance is there, and just making sure everything is navigable and functional is a full puzzle. I provide transportation demand management and parking access for about 45,000 students across over 16,000 parking spaces in almost 100 lots, and all that entails with helping them navigate around campus, holding events, and managing the data to make good parking decisions for them. My most notable professional achievement so far has been applying for and being awarded a grant to add EV charging to our campus, which will be the first functional EV charging stations on UNT campuses. I just graduated with my degree in sociology and was accepted into the master's program starting in January.